Necrotizing encephalitis of yorkshire Terriers

[lillygirl]

Hi Jerry-

I just sent you an email on this. My baby is going through the same thing right now and I am torn on the chemo. She had her first dose and is on the predisone daily. Did you notice any side effects from the chemo? I hope your baby is doing well. Please update me and give me any advice you can give.

Thank you!
Christine

[mychau]

Originally Posted by gidgetann

Gidget had her first chemo treatment yesterday. So far no side effects. She continues to be on 7.5 mg of pred daily and will have another chemo treatment in 4 weeks. Although she still can't walk perfect, and she can barely see out of only one eye, she has started barking again and we are so excited. Tonight we even went for a short walk and her tail wagged the whole time. I want to thank everyone again on this forum for all your advice. How is everyone else's babies doing? I hope they are responding well to their treatment.

Hello, is your Gidget still with you today ? my little Tiger (Yorkie) had GME, the doctor said he's not going to live long only about 6 months the most, is that's true ??. please help

[winniebencosme]

Btw, I forget to mention that with chemo, Eli didn't suffer the side effects of vomitting or diarrhea (which some dogs do experience and you should let the vet know) and they will try another agent.

[gidgetann]

I apologize for not seeing this thread sooner. In answer to your question, Gidget is still alive and is now in remission. She is off all meds and doing great. Here is the link to the site with information and a support group that will provide you some hope.

NewGMEDogs : NewGMEDogs

A photo of Gidget and an update on her condition is on the Yorkie Angel Patrol site under Faces of GME/NME.

gmefaces

[Coquette]

Originally Posted by littleyorkie

Little Yorkie was gone Monday morning (Oct 19, 2009) at 8:25. When I went to visit him in the hostipal on Sunday, he was doing well. He was still on the ventilator, but he was lying there with great comfort. He reconganized our voice and he was trembling although he could not move at all. His bloold pressure suddenly went up the moment I was in the room and talking. He responded promptly when we touched his eyelid. Doctor said everything was normal with him and his breath gets lighter and lighter, and they hoped him to get better every hour and were prepared to get him off ventilator and let him breathe on his own. I was so excited and thankful, I thought he would soon come back and I could hold him in my arm again tomorrow.

Doctor called the same afternoon and updated that he was off ventilator and he was doing fine. We prayed the whole night and count each minute on the way of getting him back. We woked up at 3 AM then 4 AM in the morning, and no emergency call and we thought he has passed the most difficult time. We are so ready to touch him and talk to him soon. Then at 4:50, my phone ringed and the doctor called in and said he was breathing with difficulty. She said he has liquid in his lung and she would like to do some treatment although it most likely to be helpless. I was like being knocked down from heavy to hell. I don't understand why this, the day before they did ultrasound all over his chest and abodomen and said evrything looked normal. Then in the next four hours, I kept walking and trembling in the dark living room, and praying the god not to take him away from me. Finally the doctor called and said they were doing treatment and he was getting better, but suddenly there is blood coming out of his chest and his breath stopped. There is abosolutely not possible to get him back and she euthanized him.

That is it, with full of hope, joy and anxiety, I was waiting for the miracle to come, but all of a sudden, he was taken away. I could not accept the fact, I lept recalling every moment in the past week since he got sick, regretting there might be a different result if I have done this or that.... But when I stand before his empty cold canine, there is only one truth in reality, I lost him forever.

I am going through the same sequencing, over and over - Coquette died July 15, '10 and I am awaiting autopsy results - no one to talk to...no one agrees, but I think if had done something sooner, she would still be with me...crying myself to sleep at night. Maybe a day earlier could have made the difference.

[kjc]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. I really don't think a day or even 30 days would have made a difference. Between the chemo and the disease itself, that's alot for any little dog to handle. Please don't blame yourself. I'm sure you did all you could... I'll keep you in my prayers...

[Coquette]

Thank you much for your reassurance.

Awaiting autopsy results to hopefully clarify what happened. Last night was the first night I didn't cry. I adopted Coquette and her parents when she was 3 years old; her mistress wanted a cat instead of these three guys. She was born dead but was revived. Started having seizures at 8 and was misdiagnosed with GME. After 6 months on heavy duty steroids and anti epileptics the neurologist diagnosed cause as a chiari lesion, tapered steroids and balanced out the epileptics and she was going well. Three months later, a week before Xmas, another MRI and she was diagnosed with a tumour on lumbar spine totally unrelated to the seizures. Surgery was not an option due to location- with nothing to loose, with the neurologist's assistance drove 9 hours in a snow storm to have her operated on three days before Xmas. She survived the operation, the anesthesia and despite surgeon's prognosis, taught herself to walk again. Pathology results - schwanoma tumour. That was three and a half years ago.

Since March of this year we have been tapering her anti epileptics and she has been seizure free. From something like 20 something pills at 4 different times of day, we were down to twice a day that Sunday. Up until Tuesday at midnight she was just about as normal as can be. Wednesday morning 4:30 a.m. she went into status epilepticus, tried valium injections at home; next an MRI showing inflamamation &/or brain mass totally unrealted to the two previous brain events. Seeing she had been such a figher, we decided to take it day by day. Her heart stopped the next morning and we decided to let her go rather than to resusitate, now I don't know whether I made the right decision that maybe with further treatment she would have come through or maybe if had heeded a few warnings signs of the previous two weeks, she would still be here.

I have omitted the details of the roller coaster ride of the last four years but I just cannot accept that she's not here. She was doing so well - still in shock here.

But thanks again for the reassurance, but I feel I dropped the ball.

C.B.

[kjc]

Oh my gosh! That all had to be so difficult. Sometimes when disease progresses with a vengeance like hers seemed to be doing you have to really evaluate her quality of life. Sounds like she's had quite a few things going on.

I understand the 'dropping the ball' feeling. Had it bad when my first Yorkie was PTS at 16 years due to osteosarcoma of the jaw, and when I let my Maltese pass away on his own at home of hermangiosarcoma, inoperable tumor on his heart.

I think we get into the habit of doing all we can for them, that when they pass, there's an immense block of time that would normally have been spent on their day to day care, and I was just left feeling like if I could have, should have, would have done more, they would still be here. It is heartbreaking, to say the least.

It's sad too, but we have to decide if they are alive for themselves, or for us. In any event, when they go, they are relieved of their pain and suffering, as our pain and suffering increases immensely at our loss of them. We can only find peace in our hearts to know we did what we could, in the end the result will always be the same. They will be at peace.

It's got to be hard waiting for those results. I will pray that you get the answers you seek, that they put your mind at ease, and reaffirm to you that you did everything possible, in your power. And even if you find you could have done more, know that you made the final decision out of the love you have for her in your heart, and that you helped her by ending her pain, and in turn you gave her wings to fly Home to be with her Maker, and allowed her to go on to her final journey to be with Him. And know that you will see her again... next time for all Eternity. You were her Angel here on Earth, now allow her to be yours, in Heaven. May God Bless You.

[Coquette]

Thank you for listening to me. It will be 5 weeks tomorrow. I did hear what you said and I will take it to heart. How do you post your pictures of your pooches? I would very much like to post hers.

[lisaly]

Originally Posted by kjc

Oh my gosh! That all had to be so difficult. Sometimes when disease progresses with a vengeance like hers seemed to be doing you have to really evaluate her quality of life. Sounds like she's had quite a few things going on.

I understand the 'dropping the ball' feeling. Had it bad when my first Yorkie was PTS at 16 years due to osteosarcoma of the jaw, and when I let my Maltese pass away on his own at home of hermangiosarcoma, inoperable tumor on his heart.

I think we get into the habit of doing all we can for them, that when they pass, there's an immense block of time that would normally have been spent on their day to day care, and I was just left feeling like if I could have, should have, would have done more, they would still be here. It is heartbreaking, to say the least.

It's sad too, but we have to decide if they are alive for themselves, or for us. In any event, when they go, they are relieved of their pain and suffering, as our pain and suffering increases immensely at our loss of them. We can only find peace in our hearts to know we did what we could, in the end the result will always be the same. They will be at peace.

It's got to be hard waiting for those results. I will pray that you get the answers you seek, that they put your mind at ease, and reaffirm to you that you did everything possible, in your power. And even if you find you could have done more, know that you made the final decision out of the love you have for her in your heart, and that you helped her by ending her pain, and in turn you gave her wings to fly Home to be with her Maker, and allowed her to go on to her final journey to be with Him. And know that you will see her again... next time for all Eternity. You were her Angel here on Earth, now allow her to be yours, in Heaven. May God Bless You.

This is deeply moving and beautiful, and it has really affected me. I couldn't agree more with what you wrote. You are such a compassionate person.

Coquette's mom, I am so sorry about your loss. She was very lucky that you were her mom. I don't think we can ever prepare ourselves for losing our babies. I understand how deep your loss is, and I hope the pain lessens for you in time and that you can find peace.

[Coquette]

Thank you. Hanging in here.

[Perrella]

I just wanted to let you all know, we are praying for all of your precious babies. Zhoie sends many doggy snuggles and lickies, XXOOXXOO. Your babies are so blessed to have you all !

[lisaly]

I hope you continue to come to Yorkie Talk. I found this forum last August when I was looking for information online about irritable bowel. It really is a wonderful community, and it helps me a lot to come here. My little girl, Ashley, passed away two months ago, a month before she would have been seventeen. She was with us since she was a baby, and our home is so empty without her. Love lasts forever, and like her sisters, she will always hold a very special place in our hearts. It's hard to see beyond the pain, but I hope each day gets better for you. If you need some support, just let me know.

[Coquette]

It has been helpful coming here. Some parts of the day are pretty bad but overall I am doing somewhat better. I realize that even if she had made it that day, whether it was NE or GME or a brain tumour it would have been painful for her to linger; this way it was over quickly and painless. And I did get a chance to hold her in my arms and letter her go. She was a very special girl and I was fortunate to have her in my life. I wish I could clone her - it would be such a joy. I am still awaiting the results of the autopsy. I am hoping that will give me some closure. Not many people realize that it is the same as losing a baby. And I thank all of you for listening to me - it has made it easier to have others with whom to share my pain.

P.S. Can someone tell me how I can post her photo?

[lisaly]

I 'm feeling a lot of what you are feeling right now with Ashley. She was doing so well just a few days before, and then we just didn't like the way she was acting. I took her immediately to see her doctor, and he thought it was just a stomach bug. He wasn't concerned, but I should I have stressed more how worried I was. He had just seen her five days before when he told me how amazing Ashley was doing, and he told me to give it a couple of days. She died in my arms at home. She cried just before she lapsed into a coma; I thought she was afraid because she would get scared if she was nauseous or her stomach bothered her. Her cries have since haunted me. She had had bloodwork done not long before, and it came out good. I may be wrong, but because she got lethargic so fast and spit up foam a couple of times, I think it might have been her kidneys failing. I just don't know because that had never been a problem. I keep thinking we might have been able to save her if we knew, but then I think that I wouldn't have wanted her to suffer just because we didn't want to let her go. She was almost seventeen and we were so lucky to have her with us for that many years and to have her be pretty healthy and active. I'm glad it's getting easier for you. I know how difficult it is when you put all of your heart into trying to care for and protect such a precious little one. I hope each day the pain lessens and the happy memories start overtaking the difficult ones. I'd love to see pictures of your baby.

This was copied and pasted from the frequently asked questions on the forum. On your profile page, you click on the albums on the right hand side and go to add an album. It's better to attach pictures rather than linking them. The biggest problem I had was resizing the pictures. The digital files that you have are probably too large, and they need to be made smaller. It tells you how to do it here. I used my photo editing program to resize mine, but this is probably easier.

For posting pictures on the Forum side of YorkieTalk, please try to post pictures as attachments rather than linking a picture from another site. Long-term, the picture may stop working via linking, whereas if it is saved as an attachment, it will never be lost.

There is a maximum filesize of 200KB for JPG/JPEG files, and 150KB for GIF files. Any files bigger than those will be rejected as attachments. Most digital camera files will be bigger than the maximum filesizes. The easiest way to resize your photo would be to use a program that can resize your picture, such as Irfanview (which is free and downloadable at the link below). The maximum filesize is to save some space on the forum servers, as well as help out the dial-up users. By uploading pictures as attachments, dial-up Internet users can opt to view the picture if they would like and not be forced to download huge files within a thread.

Download IrfanView

The best picture sizes to use for attachments is either 640 by 480 pixels or 800 by 600 pixels if you want a bigger picture. Here is a guide on using IrfanView:

Irfanview Tutorial

After you have made sure your pictures are under the maximum filesize, you can create a New Thread or Reply to a message and add an attachment to your post. Click on Manage Attachments and click on Choose to find the picture on your computer that you want to upload. Then click Upload to upload the picture, and Close Window after you are finished uploading. Then click on Submit New Thread or Submit Reply as normal.

If you have any questions on picture posting, please reply to the thread at the link below:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sit...ting-help.html